Despite refreshing nearly its entire line-up (the number mentioned on the earnings call was “80% of revenue”), Apple wasn’t able to deliver the kind of blowout that investors were hoping for. Apple is still the world’s most valuable company, but its upward trajectory no longer seems limitless.

Here are a few takeaways from the earnings report and the following conference call:

Suddenly, the iPhone 4 is a major point of interest. CEO Tim Cook said the iPhone 4 was under constant constraint. This device is free on contract in the U.S. and is currently Apple’s cheapest smartphone. When asked about lower price points, Cook dodged the question.

Apple is returning a lot of money to shareholders. The company expects to return about $45 billion over three years to shareholders, Cook said on the call.

Is the competition catching up? Apple’s profit was flat because it released a huge array of new devices, like the iPhone 5 and the iPad Mini. But with increasing competition for smaller tablets from Google and other companies, and Android smartphones, Apple has had to step up its game. It could easily be the first bit of evidence of an exposed bit in Apple’s shell.

Apple isn’t sand-bagging estimates any more. Apple traditionally delivers very conservative guidance, but not so any more. From CFO Peter Oppenheimer on the call: “Going forward, we plan to provide a range of guidance that reflects our belief of what we are likely to achieve. We cannot forecast with complete accuracy, we believe we are likely to report within the range of guidance we provide.”

China is huge. Apple reorganized its China sales into a new category, and it amounted to $7.3 billion in revenue for the quarter. Apple’s growth for iPhones in greater China was in the triple digits, and even though it was shipping the iPad in December, the company still saw “very nice growth,” Cook said.